


Nightmare

by Osicne_C



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (The fluff is towards the end), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Universe, Cuddles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Nightmares, Supportive lapis, lapidot - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 01:37:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9694124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osicne_C/pseuds/Osicne_C
Summary: In the middle of the night at the barn, Lapis finds Peridot struggling to get passed thoughts of the past. Lapis decides to comfort her girlfriend and to extinguish any sorts of negative thoughts.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Another hurt/comfort story because I'm a sucker for those. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy ♥  
> *In this particular piece, they are already together

It was late. Way too late for Lapis to still be up. Lapis however, was not one to worry too much about night time, mostly because she herself was not much of a sleeper. Even at Steven’s sleepovers, she had to fake her slumber just to please him. She could not help it, the idea of drifting off to an unconscious state for relaxation seemed like too much to her. Unfortunately, she was the only one who felt that way. Everybody else seemed to enjoy sleep, Steven, Connie, even Amethyst.

Lapis stretched her arms above her head and stood up from the barn’s pick up truck. Other than a strange yellow glow from inside the barn, the setting was in complete utter darkness. Although she expected nothing more when living in the country, the dark itself tended to make the ocean gem feel trapped. Extending her wings, she flew her way inside of the barn.

Right before entering, she heard a series of small voices. Lapis knew that Peridot had fallen asleep hours ago. Who else could it have been? She kept her guard, putting her focus on the smaller than average lake in case she would need the water for defense.

Yet as she stepped in, she found a snoozing Peridot, huddled on the floor. That a something else.

A yellow tinted image projected from Peridot’s gem.

The sight of her sleeping girlfriend made her chuckle. After rooming with Peridot, she had already grown accustomed to her small quirks. Accidently projecting her dreams with her gem was one of them.

On the image, was Lapis herself, sitting on top of the sillo with her face dug into her knees. She quietly sobbed alone until another familiar figure came from behind her. The sound of her voice triggered Lapis to cringe. She lifted her head slightly, revealing the look of rage in her eyes.

 _“Lapis?...What's the matter?”_ asked the image of Peridot

The projection of the ocean gem remained unmoved. A eerie ring scratched she turned away from her friend that made the hair on Lapis’ hair spring upwards.

“ _Lapis?! You have to tell me if something's bothering you!”_ Peridot cried, she offered a hand but it was aggressively smacked away and Lapid began shout, “ _Really! I have to tell you? Just like I had to tell you about Steven back in homeworld?!_ ”

No, Not a dream, A nightmare _._

After experiencing several herself, Steven had taught her all about the frightening visions that could range from minor fears that would bring only a slight chill, to full on terror with details so horrendous that they had the potential of shooting one awake coated with sweat. Meanwhile, the figures in Peridot’s dream projection continued to cry,

“ _Lapis! It’s not like that! I’m not like that! You’re not a prisoner anymor-”_

 _“_ **_With you here I might as well be!_ ** ” The shout bounced off the walls with such a shriek that even Lapis herself was startled by the angry shouts. Hearing such hateful comments in her own voice, hollering at the poor gem, brought a tight knot to tie in Lapis’ stomach. Peridot was smart enough to distinguish her dreams from reality? Right?

Steven had told Lapis that nightmares were made of one’s own thoughts, but there was no way that _this_ is what Peridot thought Lapis saw her roommate as.

Lapis wanted to jump into the dream, to replace the cruel deception of herself and extinguish every aspect of the dream. She wanted to comfort her girlfrien and to kiss and reassure her that the monster was no more. But nightmares simply do not work that way.

Being unable to bear the image watch any longer, Lapis extended her wings dash towards the sleeping body of her roommate.

Just about anybody would have been fooled that the technician had been deep in a tranquil slumber. She lay still on her side holding a bright yellow pillow to her chest and huddled under a thick purple blanket. As she breathed, she released deep breaths each with a small whistle. Normally the sight of her Peridot sleeping would lift her heart. However, as the ocean gem began to to lightly tapped Peridot’s arm, the shouts in the projection of the dream only grew more and more spiteful. The screams began to make the ocean gem shiver.

“ _L-L-Lapis? What's gotten into you?! I thought we moved on from this_?” Peridot weeped.

“ _I will never be the same after all that I've been through. If you had just left me at homeworld...None of this would have ever happened.”_ Behind her, a pair of massive water fists began to form. Each came rushing down on Peridot, yet the image faded away before Lapis could witness the terrible event. _“I HATE YOU”_

 _“_ Wh-what? N-No I don't.” She spoke as if she could actually break through Peridot’s mind and speak to the dream. She put her focus back on Peridot who was beginning to show signs of anxiety, “I don't hate you, Peridot!” she began to shake her body.

The sleeping gem began to shiver on the floor. She tightly clutched her fingers into the pillow and sporadically turned to her back, “No..S-stop” she mumbled in a cry.

“Peridot! Wake up!” Lapis cried. She grabbed Peridot’s shoulders and desperately shook her with such a force that the green gem’s head rocked back and forth. Yet Peridot’s eyes remained closed  as a new image began to form from her gem.

The image of the barn faded and was replaced by a setting that Lapis herself only barely recognized. The beach outside of Steven’s home. Based on the memory of only visiting a handful of times, Lapis thought that it looked the same as before yet something about the image brought chills to her spine.

In this new image, a beat up Peridot was tossed onto the sand, landing with a loud thud. Behind her cracked visor were her tear filled eyes, shaking by the sight in front of her. Three shadow stood before her, dark angry silhouettes of the crystal gems. Peridot whimpered as a deep growl came from the middle figure.

 **_“PERIDOT”_ ** Garnet hollered, “ _You’re crimes against Earth have not been forgotten. It is our duty as Crystal Gems to protect this planet and you being here is bringing our cause to danger. You leave us no choice._  

With a simple hand gesture from Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst both summoned their weapons and pointed them and the defenseless gem. Peridot’s eyes shrank at the sight. Aggressive snaps of Amethyst’s whip and lasers from Pearl’s spear shot towards Peridot. She fearfully jumped back and crawled back, dodging all the attacks, _“NO!  Please stop! Why are you doing this?!?”_ Peridot cried. She continued to crawl, up until her back hit a pair of legs.

Stevonnie, with a sword in hand, looked down at her with a predator’s eyes. They did not speak but their expression of disgust was enough to bring Peridot into sobs, _“Steven! Connie! Help me please! It’s me! Peridot! I’m your friend!”_

Stevonnie scoffed and pulled out their sword from its scabbard. The irony of the situation, the great Rose Quartz’ sword, about to be used on one of her own.

“ _You’ll never be our friend”_ They raised their sword and with full force, swung it downwards.

“PERIDOT. WAKE UP!” With one final shake, Peridot’s eyes shot open and the horrid projection finally dissolved leaving the barn in complete silence other than Peridot’s shaken breaths. The small gem held a hand to her own chest and continued to breathe heavily. She looked up at her partner, revealing the tears draining out her eyes, “L-Lapis?” she said with a tremble.

Without saying another word, Peridot rushed forward towards her partner and wrapped her arms around the ocean gem, pressing herself against her chest. As Lapis’ felt Peridot’s arms wrap around her, she could feel the small trembles coming from her hands. She quietly sobbed into her shirt.

“Oh Peridot.” Lapis returned the gesture and put her arms around the petrified gem, “It’s okay...You’re safe now.” she whispered. She lightly pressed her lips onto her gem released a small kiss onto it, “You’re safe now…” she repeated.

For several minutes, the couple stayed in that position, simply allowing all their stress to stream away. Up until the technician wiped a tear away and regulated her trembles, “I’m sorry about that... I j-just had a bad dream, that’s all.” She pulled away from the hug, her cheeks burning with teal blush, embarrassed to be expressing such emotion. Peridot’s eyes roamed the entire barn and pointed at anything except Lapis.

“I know. I saw it, Peri” Lapis said.

“What?! B-but how did you-” Peridot crawled away from her. She pressed her hands onto her own face and touched her own gem, she began to stammer, “Please...D-don’t tell anyone what you saw! I don't know what I would do if the others-”

“Peridot.” Lapis interrupted, “Do you really think that...we still hate you? That _Steven_ hates you?”

No answer. Only an uncomfortable cough as Peridot shifted herself that her back faced Lapis.

“Peridot.” Lapis repeated more sternly, “Give me an answer.”

The green gem popped her head up, “No but...sometimes I start to...reconsider whether I really made it up for the gems.

“Well of course you di-”

“You don’t know what I’ve done!” Peridot suddenly shouted, “I tried to smash Steven numerous times, I interrogated you, I almost shattered Pearl and Garnet, I kept you and all the other gems prisoner!” She shouted, tears continued to leak out her eyes, “and that’s only the beginning! How can _you_ out of all gems tell me that I fully redeemed?!”

Peridot was so caught up by her shouts that she failed to notice Lapis appearing right next to her. She grabbed both her hands and held them to her chest. A heavy feeling of sorrow clutched onto Lapis’ chest. She felt furious at herself for not noticing any signs of these feelings from Peridot. It was too late to go back to the past though, for now, her job was to comfort her partner.

“You. You are not a bad gem, Peri. That’s a promise. Maybe I can’t speak for everyone, but I can promise you that they and Steven would agree that you have been so supportive in countless ways. This planet, it used to be a reminder of just how lost I was.” Lapis said.

Peridot sniffed and lifted her hand to her face, “It’s my fault you’re here in the first place.”

“Yes I’m here. At the time the circumstance weren’t the best, but sitting here now, on this planet, in this barn, with you by my side, I couldn’t be any more happier.  Your support, your presence, this barn, it’s all a part of my home. I could never hate this and I could never hate you. I love you, Peridot.”  

Peridot failed to resist a smile as more blush coated her face, but the smile soon faded  “Even back on the ship?” Peridot asked.

“Well...” Lapis said, with a small smile curving at the side of her mouth “That Peridot was a huge jerk but lucky for me, she’s gone now. Now I have this cute little dork to keep me company.” Hastily, Lapis pulled her girlfriend forward and surprised her with a kiss on her lips.

Much to Lapis’ relief, Peridot returned the gesture and kissed back. As they finally let go of the kiss, she tenderly smiled down at her Peridot. If there was one thing that would always bring her happiness, it was knowing that this gem, this beautiful gem, is hers. She was suddenly struck with a strong wave of affection for the gem and pulled her to the floor. A small squeak came from Peridot as they fell to the floor.

“Lapis! What’s this all about!” Peridot yelped.

The ocean gem simply pulled the blanket over them and wrapped her arms around the technician, “You were sleeping just now, weren’t you? It’s the middle of the night, you shouldn’t be waking up until at least a few more hours from now.” She pulled the gem closer and held her against her chest.

Peridot, seeing that the ocean gem was teasing her, playful pressed her hand on her face and snickered as she struggled to pull away. Lapis’ grip however, was one as good as iron, “Come on, Lapis! I’m not a gem fresh out of the kindergarten! I don’t need a bedtime.” she said in half a whine.

Without breaking a sweat, she grabbed Peridot and pulled her to her other side. Hearing her small yelp brought great joy to Lapis, looks like Peridot was reverting back to her usual self.  She adjusted her grip so that Peridot was trapped in an inescapable cuddle, “Maybe you don't, but I sure do. Besides, as long as I'm here those dreams won't bother you. I'll protect you from any nightmares.”

Peridot quit her struggles and twisted her mouth, likely debating whether she should feel flattery or annoyance when suddenly Lapis felt Peridot press her face against her, “Hmm, Something tells me that you don't exactly know how dreams function.” she grumbled as the clutched her arm.

There she is.

Lapis shot Peridot with a sly smirk which made Peridot’s eyes shrink. The green gem knew well enough what that look meant, “Doubting my knowledge are you?” Before Peridot even had the chance to protest, Lapis pulled her forward and attacked Peridot’s face with dozens of small pecks and kisses all over her face; On the gem, to her nose, to her chin. Through her embarrassed laughs, the smaller gem tried to pull away but that only increased Lapis’ persistence as her kisses became quicker.

“O-Okay! I-Ill let you stay!” Peridot said through her bursts of laughter.

Lapis halted her attack and smiled. She loved it when Peri laughed, “Good.” She said, pulling her back in their original cuddle position. Peridot nuzzled against Lapis’ neck and released a small purr. 

“Thank you for this, Lapis...I love you.” said Peridot sleepily. After one final kiss on Lapis’ cheek curled against Lapis and drifted back to sleep.

Now holding her sleeping Peridot, feeling the small relaxed breaths against her chest, Lapis earned a better understanding on the benefits of sleep.

It was a nice thought. Being able to relax the body, but let the mind become more active than ever, even if that meant having a few nightmares here and there. As long as she had somebody to wake up next to, the nightmares would never truly get to her. 

Lapis gave one last look at Peridot and questioned whether she felt the same about the topic, “No matter how bad the nightmares get, I'll always be here for you, Peridot.”

And for the first time in millenniums, she fell asleep.

  
  
  



End file.
